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Post by steveb on Aug 12, 2011 13:52:09 GMT -5
Back in the 70's, things changed. The Winchester AA hull, plastic wads, hard shot,etc.. You can cleanly kill any upland bird to 40 yds, with absolutlely no choke. Really. You can shoot trap with a mod choking, and skeet with no choke at all. The folks that only shoot the games, and are stuck in the past, will argue, let them. The only time this changes is when you talk steel for waterfowl, or turkey, where folks want there shotguns to be rifles. steve b
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Post by boxhead on Aug 13, 2011 20:57:32 GMT -5
I generally use a Prandelli and Gasparini 20 guage SxS choked M and IC.
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Post by oldschool on Aug 16, 2011 8:26:14 GMT -5
Another vote for the 28g. Most of my life, my Dad and I shot Browning Sweet 16s (and an Ithaca M37) for dove, quail, woodcock, and occasionally ducks. Later in life, Dad got a Citori 16, which I really loved; it just seemed to fit. About 10 years ago, he picked up a 28g Citori, which I really questioned...it didn't seem adequate for the hunting we do (did).
Dad's gone now, but he left me those Citoris, and I have a new favorite gauge. While I still use that 16 for high-flying doves, I've found the 28g to be more than adequate for 95% of my hunting. I can reliably hit birds out to 35 yards or so and the lighter recoil is a real pleasure on sporting clays. It's death on quail, woodcock, and chukar. I use it for early season dove, too. It just depends on the conditions.
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Post by steveb on Aug 22, 2011 11:42:03 GMT -5
The 28ga.... its sweet, nice to carry and shoot. It has limitations. The ammo is expensive and hard to find. I consider it a experts gun or skeet gun. It is a good upland gauge when hunting over pointing dogs. It is not a one gun battery gun though. When recommending a shotgun for others though, well, if they were experienced enough for a 28ga., they mught already have one. When folks ask for advice, its too common for others to recommend what they have. Thats not the same thing. It is re-affirming the choice you made. steve b
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Post by bluecow on Sept 6, 2011 6:53:20 GMT -5
ill keep my savage model 94 16g single. light, points like a dream, dose all i need doing.
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gregs
.30 Stingray
Posts: 454
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Post by gregs on Feb 20, 2020 4:13:01 GMT -5
For upland when I was shooting alot of skeet and sporting, I liked a anything 20 ga or less. I was pretty quick on birds and destroyed a bunch shooting them on the end of the barrel with a 12 and quickly moved to a 20. Occassionally I'll use a tube 12 ga in 28 and 410 for quail but that tubed gun adds 14 oz in tubes and enough lead in the stock to get it to balance nicely. 28 ga is only 1/8th of an oz off of a 20 and hits hard at 25m. The 410 is a whole nother animal to master.
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Post by 500fksjr on Feb 20, 2020 6:24:55 GMT -5
CZ sxs 28 ga
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Post by bushog on Feb 20, 2020 8:06:15 GMT -5
For pheasant, its tough to beat a good 20 o/u. I have a Ruger red label that I bought for my son that should be great. My hunting buddy has been limiting out every year for as long as I can remember with his. I still use my Beretta Silver pigeon O/U in 12 though. May pull out the 20s this year though My fav is a Beretta 686 20ga that has 26" barrels and 3" chambers. With the screw in chokes coupled with shot size I have a lot of flexibility. It has an english style grip which I favor in an upland gun too.Points like my index finger. Walk all day with that sucker and never get tired of toting it around. At the end of a long day my 12ga feels like a freaking boat anchor.... It kills almost as well as the 12. Honestly it kills as well on anything I should really be considering shooting at. You don't want to shoot trap with it.....
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Post by zeus on Feb 20, 2020 9:29:07 GMT -5
Talk about resurrecting the dead.....2011, meet 2020. 😂
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Post by kings6 on Feb 20, 2020 9:32:10 GMT -5
I shot right handed with a dominate left eye so the only thing I shoot with a shotgun is the breeze🥴. I gave all the 870s and model 12 guns away to friends and family and just have the cut off stocked bolt action 410!my dad gave me for my 4th birthday 58 years ago and a single shot 20g barn gun for varmints and gophers.
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jgt
.327 Meteor
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Posts: 782
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Post by jgt on Feb 20, 2020 10:48:01 GMT -5
I would not feel handicapped with a single shot for most birds. I only shoot one and concentrate on finding the one I hit before moving on to the next one. I have a Winchester 37 12gage I use a lot. I also have an 870 special field and a Browning BPS. The two pumps are also 12 gage with three inch chambers and screw in chokes. I mostly change the load for different hunting rather than gage. I have owned 28 and 20 gage guns. My dad and uncle favored 16 gage. For me, the 12 shoots the best pattern.
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Post by crazycarl on Feb 20, 2020 16:25:28 GMT -5
I shot right handed with a dominate left eye so the only thing I shoot with a shotgun is the breeze🥴. I gave all the 870s and model 12 guns away to friends and family and just have the cut off stocked bolt action 410!my dad gave me for my 4th birthday 58 years ago and a single shot 20g barn gun for varmints and gophers. I'm cross dominant as well & my only non-HD/SD scatter gun is a youth model NEF 20ga single shot I bought to hunt squirrels.
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Post by zeus on Feb 20, 2020 17:20:18 GMT -5
Regardless, I bet he bought something by now??? 😂😂😂
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Post by mart on Feb 20, 2020 19:14:17 GMT -5
I've been through them all. Like most others, I started out bird hunting with a 12 gauge. My first was a Remington 1100. Not too long into my adult hunting life I got into O/U's and have shot them most of my life. I had a momentary dalliance with SxS's but never have shot them as well as my O/U's. I have over/unders in most of the gauges, to include 24 gauge. I don't have a 410. I still have a couple SxS's but rarely shoot them.
When I lived in eastern Washington, I worked a 1400-2200 shift and would bird hunt six days a week in the mornings and all day on my days off during the season. The gun I carried more than any was a Beretta 686 28 gauge. I shot everything from valley quail to pheasants with it. My little Brittany and I must have hiked a few thousand miles those years chasing birds. That little 28 never failed me and as a joy to carry. I shot mostly 3/4 and 7/8 reloads and occasionally the Winchester one ounce factory loads. All of them killed birds well.
Today I don't get as many days afield to bird hunt. It seems to come down to four guns I chose most often, the Beretta 28 gauge, it's slightly bigger brother, a Beretta SP1 20 gauge, a Browning Lightning 16 gauge and a 1938 Ithaca 37 Skeet 16 gauge choked IC. And I probably grab that Ithaca more than the other three. A 26 inch pump 16 Ithaca seems to rival the English light field guns for handling. I have a Thomas Bland 12 bore 2 1/2 inch that is a wand in my hands. I think the Ithaca handles every bit as well. When I've tried the longer 28 gauge pumps they don't handle as fluidly to me as the 26 inch. And I shoot the Ithaca as well or better than any of my other guns on sporting clays.
I like the 7/8 or one ounce loads in the 16. For upland birds I've never found much benefit to heavy loads. Most of my upland shooting can be handled with 7 1/2s or 6s. In fact a great piece of advice I got from a gun writer many years ago was to use the good quality target loads (he mentioned Winchester AA Handicap loads) with 7 1/2 shot, especially over a pointing dog. He contended the shot was harder than what was loaded in the promotional loads, the loads tended to pattern better and by going down to an IC choke you had a pattern few birds could get through unscathed. And less shot damaged meat common with tighter chokes at short ranges. I tried his advice when I shot 12, 20 and 28 gauge for upland. He was right. To this day I use either a target load or a reload with good quality, hard shot for my bird hunting.
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Post by dobegrant on Feb 20, 2020 19:50:24 GMT -5
Mostly use 20 gauge, long walks from the truck lets you carry a lot more shells
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